The Turkish military has released a statement saying that it
first identified the Russian-built helicopter 26 nautical miles
(48 km) away from its airspace, and radioed the pilots until it
was within 5 nautical miles (9 km) of it.

Reacting to the incident, Syria has accused its neighbor of
trying to escalate tensions along the border.

"The hasty response from the Turkish side, especially as the
aircraft was on its way back and was not charged with any combat
missions, is proof of the true intentions of Erdogan's government
toward Syria, to increase tensions and escalate the situation on
the border between the two countries," Syria's armed forces
said in a statement reported by the state news agency SANA.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said the helicopter was
brought down after it ventured up to 2 km into Turkey near the
border town of Yayladagi.

"It was continuously warned by our air defence but as the
violation continued, it fell on Syrian soil at 2:25 pm (1125
GMT), having been hit by missiles from our planes," Bulent
Arinc said to reporters in Ankara.

The helicopter was hit by a patrol of two US-made F-16s launched
from the Kurecik Air Force Base, on the eastern side of Turkey,
which shares a 900 km border with Syria.

Arinc said that the army relaxed its rules of engagement after
Syria shot down a Turkish plane in June last year, killing two
pilots. Now, any approach from an aircraft operated by the Syrian
government is treated as a “military threat”.

"No one will have the courage to violate Turkish airspace
again,” declared Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to
reporters in Paris. Davutoglu added that Ankara would inform
fellow members of NATO and the UN Security Council about details
of the incident.

The fate of the pilots is unknown, though UK-based NGO Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said that it received reports of at
least one of them being captured by anti-government rebels
stationed nearby.

Ankara has vehemently opposed the regime of Bashar Assad since
the conflict broke out in 2011, and has placed its border
territory at the disposal of rebel groups.

Turkey has also responded to stray fire from the Syrian side
during the past year and regularly scrambled its jets when Syrian
aircraft ghosted into the vicinity of its borders.

Turkey has also become a temporary home for more than 500,000
refugees that have fled Syria during the 30-month long rebellion,
which has resulted in at least 100,000 deaths, according to UN
statistics.